


So... You Know... Whatever Works

by HawkyBarton



Series: OTP and Fanfic Brigade (Prompts galore) [80]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Slavery, Angst, Branding, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, M/M, Master!Phil, Sadness, Slavery, back story, but fluff at end i swear, i have no other tags, i promiiseeeee, prompt, really cute and nice ending, slave!Bruce, slave!Clint, slave!Natasha, slave!steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:07:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkyBarton/pseuds/HawkyBarton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint was 25 years old when just doing his job lands him as a slave.</p>
<p>Phil was 35 years old when he knew Clint couldn't be killed for doing his job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So... You Know... Whatever Works

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asked: I want this in a world where slavery is legal and usual please Clint fucks a mission up. Enormous! Hundreds of people die. The WSC demands Clint's to make an example to show that not even an Avenger can do whatever he wants and get away with it. Phil knows that mean jail (and/or deathsentence) for Clint and he knows that the last time he's been there... well, it didn't end well... He also knows, that Fury would do everything... everything!! to keep his best agent. And so he says to him that he will leave SHIELD and Fury says that he can have everything he wants if he stays. And Phil says he wants Clint as his slave. WSC is furious but Fury accepts Phil's demand (and he's glad because this is a way to keep Clint as asset). So, Clint gets enslaved (you know, branding, implaning of a tracker, whatever degrading practice you else can imagine) with Phil and the rest of the team watching and then he gets handed over to his new owner. Aftermath? Consequences? Adapting to a live as slave? Relationship?

Years ago the world decided to make an example of the human-beings that weren’t up to par with everyone else. 

The incredibly poor, the criminals, and the debauched were the chosen few that the world decided needed to be made examples of. 

So this example was that these people were made into slaves. 

The poor was essentially born into slavery, the debauched forced by their guardians or partners, and the criminals were given a choice (slavery or death, most chose slavery). 

Sometimes slavery could be an easy life if you had a good master - but for the most part it sucked until you died. 

Now, SHIELD was one of the only government organizations that treated their slaves with dignity - and gave them all a chance to retrieve their freedom. 

Already within the past few years, three Avengers (Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and Natasha Romanova) had worked their way towards freedom (though technically Natasha had done so a long time ago), and were living the free life in the Avenger’s  tower alongside: Tony Stark, Thor, Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis, and Pepper Potts. 

But technically our story doesn’t start there, or even with any of these people. 

It starts several years ago on a farm in Waverly, Iowa and a mansion in Manitowoc, Wisconsin with ones Clint Barton and Phil Coulson. 

 

~

The Barton family lived on a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere, but for school reasons, listed Waverly as their town (even though it was about 20 miles away). 

They were a poor family, but they made just enough money with Harold Barton’s butcher shop in town that they were above the slavery level. 

For the first 4 years of Clint Barton’s life, everything was perfectly swell. He and his brother didn’t have much, but they did have love. They played together in the creek behind their house when Barney got home from school,and then they would stand next to their mother as she cooked dinner before shooing Barney away to do his homework. 

Every night their father would come home, pop open a beer, and ruffle the boy’s hair before plopping in front of the TV before dinner time. 

This all changed when Clint turned 5 . 

For some reason Clint didn’t understand, the butcher shop began to lose business, and lose business fast .

Within months, the Bartons were looking at slavery level poverty. 

Harold began to drink more and more, and with the more drinks he had, the more violent with his family he got.

The happy family Clint and Barney had known became one of pain and agony. 

Until Harold crashed the car he and Edith were driving in on the way home from a meeting with the local slavery board. 

Harold wouldn’t let himself, or his family, become slaves. No fucking way. 

So the children, parent-less, went to the local work house. 

You couldn’t make children slaves without parents until a legal age (the only thing remotely merciless in the world they lived in), but you could force them to do menial tasks like sewing or mending (with hopes of an apprenticeship). 

Clint was 8 years old, and already tired with his young existence, when his brother broke them out and got them to a traveling circus. 

The two young boys hired on as indentured servants, and no less than two years later, Clint was headlining as the Amazing Hawkeye. He was pushed daily by his mentors, Jacques Duquesne and Buck Chisholm, to be better and faster and stronger. They pushed and pushed and pushed, until one day Clint never missed a shot, and even 10 years later he was hitting every target. 

After the circus, Clint became  a mercenary for hire when he realized that Buck and Jacques were stealing from Carson’s, and they almost killed him when he found out their secret. 

So Clint took any job he could, that he knew he was taking down the bad guys, and collected millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts. 

At age 17 he was caught by SHIELD, and brought in to the organization. Clint was saved from being a slave that time, but didn’t put a toe out of line for 3 years just in case. After seeing what his father did to his family at the though of becoming a slave, Clint knew it was something he never wanted to happen to him.

At age 18, he was assigned the handler Phil Coulson, and fell in love (though he never did share that information with anyone)

At age 20, he brought in Natasha Romanova, a slave that he knew could gain her freedom in SHIELD. 

At age 23, Loki stepped through the portal and took over his mind. 3 days later he saved the world with a bunch of superheroes and mourned the death of his one true love, whom he had never told his feelings to. 

At age 24, Nick Fury announced that Phil Coulson wasn’t dead, and Clint Barton punched the director in the face before dragging the agent back to Avenger’s tower. 

At age 25, Clint Barton went into an Avengers function, and got over 100 people killed when he tried to take down a Hydra Agent bent on killing everyone in the ballroom that night.

At age 25, Clint Barton was sentenced to death at the orders of the WSC, because no matter who you are, you had to be made an example of. Clint Barton had yet to confess his feelings to Phil Coulson.

 

*******

Phil Coulson had been born into a prominently wealthy family. he went to the best schools, had the best tutors, and got everything he ever wanted. His family owned many slaves in their homes, but they were all treated like family. All of their slaves were given a chance to work for their freedom, and even after most had achieved this goal, had stayed on with the Coulson family as workers. 

The first time he became cognizant of how ill-treated slaves could be was when he was 13 years old. Phil had been walking home from the comic book store, limited edition Captain America comic book in hand, when he witnessed what would change his life. 

On the opposite side of the street, Phil noticed an old man carrying what looked to be several boxes in his arms, while a much younger man walked behind him. 

Phil had frowned, wanting with all his might to go across the street and help the old man, and to give a tongue-lashing to the younger one who wouldn’t help an old man in need. 

Before Phil could cross the street, the old man tripped and dropped all of the boxes onto the ground. 

This caught the attention of the younger man, and before Phil could breathe, the younger man pulled out a whip and began to bring it down several times upon the older man’s back.

Shocked, Phil was about to cross the street and put an end to that abuse, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. 

Turning his head, Phil saw the hand was attached to a police officer. 

“Don’t try it kid, it’s not worth your time.” The officer said with a sigh. “Old man’s a slave to the younger guy, you can’t interfere with that shit”

Phil’s hand clenched, “But that’s not fair”

The Cop sighed,”Don’t I know it kid... Don’t I know it”

With those words, Phil knew he needed to stop slavery in any way he could. 

5 years later, Phil Coulson joined the Rangers. 

In the Rangers he made the acquaintance of freed Slave, Marcus Johnson. The two men became fast friends, and it was Marcus who dubbed Phil ‘Cheese,’ in relation to his pale skin. Two years later, when Marcus left the Rangers after finding his long lost father, Phil followed him. 

It turned out that Phil was following Marcus to a government agency called SHIELD (or the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division). 

Marcus Johnson became Nick Fury Jr (after his father who had been the Director of SHIELD before stepping down), and only in private was Phil allowed to call him by the name he used to know him as. 

Phil quickly went through the ranks at SHIELD, and by age 25, was already a Level 7 (which didn’t mean much, Fury was already assistant director). 

At Age 27, Fury became SHIELD’s director, and Phil was able to bring in the illustrious Hawkeye. 

At Age 28, Clint Barton was assigned to Phil Coulson, and after two months working together, Phil fell in love with his subordinate, but was too much a coward to tell him. 

At Age 30, Clint Barton brought in the Black Widow, and Phil knew he could never compare to her in Clint’s eyes. 

At Age 31, Phil Coulson was a Level 10, and leading one of the best Strike Teams in SHIELD. 

At Age 33, Phil Coulson was murdered by Loki in the Battle of Manhattan, ashamed that he had never told Clint Barton how much he loved him.

At Age 33, Phil Coulson was brought back to life by an alien artifact under Project TAHITI. 

At Age 34, Phil Coulson walked into the conference room after Nick Fury announced his lack of being dead. To his shock, he watched Clint Barton punch Nick Fury in the face, and before he could breathe, was being dragged away by said archer. 

At Age 35, Phil Coulson watched in horror as the WSC sentenced Clint to death after the death of 100 people due to a fight Clint had with a Hydra Agent. Phil Coulson had yet to confess his love to Clint.

 

*******

Clint Barton sat in the Avengers’ tower and reflected on his fate that lay ahead. 

_I always knew I would die at SHIELD, but I really had hoped it would be in the line of duty, not because I did my duty.  
_

Clint was just appreciative that the WSC let him stay in the tower until his execution instead of a jail cell like the other criminals. 

“You’re brooding again” Natasha said softly as she sat down next to him in the living room. 

Clint snorted, “I’m going to die in a week Natasha, let me brood”

Natasha sighed, “We’re still trying to get the WSC to back the fuck off..”

Clint shook his head. “Just stop, please. It hasn’t worked for the last two months, and I’ve come to terms with my fate. I mean, I did get all those civilians killed - not to mention all the SHIELD Agents during-”

“You can stop right there Legolas” Tony Stark interrupted, starling Clint with his sudden appearance. “Literally neither of those events were your fault. In fact, if anyone is to be blamed for the Ball incident - it should be the WSC. Their negligence is what caused the Hydra Agents to get into the ball without anyone noticing. You were just doing your job, and if you hadn’t, everyone would be dead”

Clint sighed, “Thanks Stark. If only the WSC weren’t dickweeds...”

Tony nodded, “We’re still working on it. And don’t you dare say we should stop, or I’ll send Steve in here to give you his puppy dog face”

Clint huffed out a laugh, “I wouldn’t want that fate on me....”

Tony nodded, “Good. Now, I gotta go. TTYL”

Natasha rolled her eyes, “You’d think a genius like him wouldn’t use text lingo, but here we are”

Clint smiled and nodded, but his mind was already somewhere else. He wasn’t brought into the present until Natasha punched his shoulder. 

“Ow!” Clint yelped. “What the hell was that for?!”

“I _said_ are you ever gonna tell Phil how you feel?” Natasha said with a huff.

Clint looked at Natasha and shook his head. “No. What would be the point? We would only get one week together anyway, even if he did have feelings for me”

Natasha sighed, “You really shouldn’t deny either of you some happiness, no matter how short the time period”

Clint clenched his hands. “Come off it Nat, it’s not gonna happen”

Natasha just sighed once more and shook her head before leaving Clint alone to his thoughts.

 

*******

Phil Coulson knocked twice on Nick Fury’s door before opening it and locking it behind him. 

Fury looked up at Phil and raised an eyebrow, “What can I do for you Cheese?”

Phil took a breath, and knew what he needed to do to save Clint’s life. “I’m quitting”

Fury froze, before standing up quickly. “Like hell you are!”

Phil stood firm, bland expression in place. “I am. I don’t like playing ball with the WSC, and after my resurrection, I haven’t felt the same here”

Fury sighed and rubbed his hand against his forehead. “Come on Cheese, I can’t lose my two best agents right now. I’m already devastated as it is about Barton, you can’t leave now”

Phil gulped, “You can’t stop me...”

Fury looked at Phil, “..... Let me make you deal. I will give you anything you want, as long as you stay”

Thanking all of the stars above that Marcus had fallen into his trap, Phil raised an eyebrow. “Anything?”

Fury nodded, “Anything Cheese. Just name it”

Phil nodded to Fury to sit down as he walked over and sat down himself. When the two men were comfortable in their chairs, Phil put his hands on Fury’s desk. “I want Barton”

Fury shook his head, “He’s sentenced to death Phil, I can’t free him”

Phil nodded, “I am aware. I want Barton - as my slave”

Fury froze. “As your slave? Cheese, you said you would-”

“I know what I said Marcus” Phil cut him off with a snap. “But I’ll be damned if I let Barton die because he was doing something good in his life. If you want me to stay, make him my slave”

Fury looked at Phil for a moment before leaning back in his chair. “If you made Barton your slave, would both of you stay on?”

Phil nodded, his fingers twitching as he could almost taste his wishes being granted. “I would make sure Clint would still be a SHIELD asset, as well as an Avenger”

Fury nodded, “I’ll do it”

Phil took a big breath in relief, “Thank you Marcus. You won’t regret it”

Fury snorted, “I better not Cheese, I better not”

 

*******

It was two days before his execution, and Clint had become more and more calm about the whole event as time went on.

The rest of the team, however, weren’t in the same boat as Clint. To say they were freaking out would be an under-statement.

So when Nick Fury came into the Avengers’ kitchen, they collectively took a deep breath in of relief.

“What’s happening Dreaded Pirate Roberts” Tony said in lieu of an actual greeting.

Fury sighed, “I need to talk to Barton... Alone...”

Steve blinked, “Anything you need to say to Clint, you can say with all of us here”

Natasha nodded. “I concur”

Fury looked at Clint, who just shrugged. “If they want to stay, who am I to argue?”

Fury sighed. “Well I have good news, and bad news...”

”Surely we should have the good news first!” Thor said with his first smile in a week.

Fury hummed, “Well Barton. It seems you no longer are being executed”

The room exploded in hoots and hollers. Clint looked around to find all of his friends kissing and being together. Thor with Jane, Tony with Pepper, Steve with Darcy, and Natasha with Bruce.

It made Clint ache to be with Phil all the more, to share the news with Phil.

Looking at Fury, Clint sighed. “Wait... What’s the bad news?”

The whole team froze as Fury rested a hand on Clint’s shoulder. “You’re a slave now son...”

Clint stopped breathing as chaos exploded around the room.

 

*******

Phil never got the chance to explain to Clint that it was _Phil_ who had ‘bought’ Clint as a slave before the tagging ceremony. He had been sent out on an urgent mission, and only got back on the day of Clint’s ceremony. 

“I hope he doesn’t mind that I’ll be his master,” Phil muttered as he changed his suits in his office. 

Checking his watch, Phil sighed as he realized he only had 20 minutes to get to the tagging ceremony, and wouldn’t have any time to grab the present he had bought Clint (currently sitting in his apartment, probably gathering dust). 

Rubbing his hands over his face, Phil took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. 

“Get over yourself Coulson. You saved Clint. Don’t forget that”

With those words, Phil nodded to no one and headed to the ceremony.

 

*******

Clint was kneeling in the crowded room of people, his shirt off, and only in his boxers.

Mentally preparing himself for the horrible events that were about to occur in the tagging ceremony, Clint couldn’t help but curse his soon to be master. 

_Who the fuck is it? And why **me** of all people? _Clint thought to himself over and over again. 

Raising his head, Clint watched as Phil slid through the doors at the last second, and cringed.

_Anybody but him. God, I don’t want Phil to see my humiliation, and I never said a goddamn word to him!_

Lowering his head back to his chest, Clint tried to ignore Phil and all of the Avengers that were in the audience. 

“It’s time everyone!” Fury’s voice boomed out. “As is traditional in the tagging ceremony - Baron will be put through 3 different tags. As is customary, his master has chosen the order in which they will go. First will be the actual tagging of the slave, then will be the stripping of the slave’s rights, and finally the branding done by the slave’s master. Let us begin”

Clint cringed as a doctor came forward with a syringe, sticking it through the skin in his forearm. This would in-bed a tracker within Clint, so that his master would know his movements at all times. 

_Step One, finished.  
_

“Now for the striping of Barton’s rights. As a criminal, Clint has chosen the option of slavery. He no longer is a free man, and will do whatever his master deems necessary. He lives for his master until his death, and unfortunately, will not be able to become free ever again. So strips his rights”

Clint tried to stop the tears leaking from his eyes, but couldn’t. 

He had tried so hard for the last 25 years, only to be become a slave when he was doing his job. 

 

*******

Phil saw the tears slipping down Clint’s cheeks, and his heart clenched in his chest. 

_Oh my poor little love.  
_

“Now for the branding!” Fury announced. 

Taking a deep breath, Phil stood up and grabbed the hot poker from a passing agent. 

Phil hated that he had to mar Clint’s skin in this way, but hoped the branding would be in his favor. 

Ignoring the gasps of surprise from literally everyone present, Phil wished Clint would raise his hand before Phil branded him. 

But no such luck. 

Gripping the poker harder, Phil raised it and brought it down on Clint’s shoulder. 

His eyes closed at Clint’s loud scream. 

 

*******

Clint couldn’t help the scream that escaped his lips as the hot poker hit his flesh, causing pain to streak along his entire back. 

Whoever the hell his master was kept the poker on his back for 5 seconds and immediately removed it, and surprisingly caught Clint as he fell forward. 

Clint felt like the arms surrounding him were familiar, but before he could think about it too clearly, he passed out from the pain. 

 

~

Clint woke up in a dimly lit room. 

Squinting his eyes, Clint looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

“You’re awake” Came a soft voice to the right. 

Spinning around on the couch he was laying on, Clint’s eyes widened when he saw Phil standing there. 

“Phil? What are you-”

“I’m your master” Phil cut in. “Fury bought you out from under the WSC as a deal with me to get us both to stay on at SHIELD”

Clint blinked, “Oh..... Oh. I... I guess you’re better than any other master I could have” Clint said awkwardly. 

Phil grimaced and walked over to the couch, crouching down next to it. “I wanted to tell you before the ceremony, but I was on a mission... I got back 20 minutes before the ceremony started. Didn’t even get to stop at home to pick up your gift”

Clint frowned, “Gift?”

Phil nodded and grabbed a box before handing it to Clint. “The gift isn’t exactly for you, per se, but I hope you like it...”

Clint frowned and opened the box, confused when he only saw a ring inside. Picking it up, Clint was surprised to find the ring an arrow and a gun pointing at each other etched into the side of the ring. 

“I don’t understand” Clint said after a moment. 

Phil smiled and took the ring, sliding it onto his ring finger. “This ring matches your branding... I guess now that I think about it, it is kinda silly”

Clint looked at him, his eyes widening just slightly. “You’re branding yourself, just like you had to brand me”

Phil nodded, “Good... You get it...”

Clint gulped and scooted forward on the couch. “Please punish me if I’m taking this the wrong way...”

Phil opened his mouth to ask Clint what he was talking about, when Clint’s lips touched his own. 

Within seconds the kiss deepened, both men letting out a moan at the contact. 

Within minutes, clothes were flying everywhere as passion over took them.

Within an hour, words of love were being passed between the two men as they laid side by side in bed. 

Within a week, but men were back at work, never happier in their lives. 

Within a month, everything had  gone back to normal - except for the brand the two men held on their person. 

Within two years, the two men had adopted a baby girl. 

And at age 30 and 40, Phil and Clint married in a beautiful ceremony two months after the WSC had finally acquitted Clint for his ‘crimes,’ releasing him from his slave contract. 

Clint kept the branding, just as Phil kept the ring. 

They were two halves of the same whole, and it had taken some hard times to make them see that.

Natasha just called them idiots. 

**Author's Note:**

> (( You can prompt me if you wish for other fics, or for any ideas you may have about this fic at [ Hellogoodbye](http://hellogoodbye741.tumblr.com/ask) ))


End file.
